1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a wireless communication system. More particularly, the present invention relates to an apparatus and method for managing Sounding Reference Signal (SRS) resources in a wireless communication system.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a wireless communication system, in order to estimate a channel between a terminal and a Base Station (BS), the terminal transmits an SRS to the BS. To this end, each BS receives an allocation of an SRS pool index representing SRS resources to be used in a cell area from a system controller, and allocates SRS resources within an SRS resource range corresponding to the allocated SRS pool index to serving terminals.
However, because the number of terminals connected to the BS is not fixed but rather may vary continuously, the continuous use of initially-allocated SRS resources by the BS as described above is not efficient in terms of SRS resource management. For example, assume that the BS can allocate SRS resources to 10 terminals through the SRS resources corresponding to the initially-allocated SRS pool index. In this case, when one terminal is connected to the BS (or when less than 10 terminals are connected to the BS), SRS resources are wasted, and when 10 or more terminals are connected to the base station, SRS resources are insufficient.
Furthermore, in order for neighbor cells to effectively receive an SRS of a terminal, it is necessary to prevent an SRS conflict from occurring between different terminals because neighbor cells use the same SRS resources or neighbor cells adjacent to a specific cell use the same SRS resources. However, an SRS resource allocation scheme according to the related art does not consider the SRS conflict.
Therefore, a need exists for an apparatus, system and method for managing SRS resources in a wireless communication system.
The above information is presented as background information only to assist with an understanding of the present disclosure. No determination has been made, and no assertion is made, as to whether any of the above might be applicable as prior art with regard to the present invention.